NAME
Ciro Isidoro
POSITION
Professor of Pathology
INSTITUTION AND LOCATION
Dept. of Medical Sciences, ‘A. Avogadro’ University of Novara
via M. Solaroli, 17, 28100 NOVARA – ITALY
tel + 39 0321 660607; fax + 39 0321 620421
e-mail: isidoro@med. unipmn.it
www.isidorolab.com

PERSONAL DATA
born on August 29th, 1956, in Tripoli (Libia)
foreign languages (speaking/writing): english, german, french.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
• July 1983: first class degree with honor (Laurea “summa cum Laude”) Doctor in Biological Sciences at the University of Turin.
• July 1999: first class degree with honor (Laurea “summa cum Laude”) Doctor in Medicine and Surgery at the “A. Avogadro” University of Novara.

APPOINTMENTS AND ACADEMIC POSITIONS
• 1983-1987: research Assistant, post-Doctoral fellow at Department of Medicine and Experimental Oncology, University of Turin (I).
• 1987-1989: post-Doc at Institute fuer Physiologische Chemie und Pathobiochemie, by Prof. A. Hasilik, University of Muenster (Germany). Research Associate (1989-1990) at University of Muenster (Germany).
• 1990-1993: Research Associate at Department of Medicine and Experimental Oncology, University of Turin (I).
• 1990-1992: Lecturer in Pathology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Turin (I).
• 1993-1994: Visiting Scientist at INSERM Laboratoire de Biologie et Pathologie Moléculaires des Glycoprotéines, School of Medicine, X. Bichat Hospital, University of Paris.
• 1995: Lecturer at Scuola Superiore di Oncologia e Scienze Biomediche (Genova).
• 1996: Visiting Professor at Wayne State University, School of Medicine of Detroit, Department of Pharmacology (director: Prof. Bonnie F. Sloane).
• 1993-1999 Assistant Professor, Lecturer of Immunology and Pathology, Faculty of Sciences and School of Medicine “A. Avogadro” University.
• 1997 to date: Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Pathology at Dept. of Medical Sciences, Novara, “A. Avogadro” University.
• 2000- to date: Associate Professor of Pathology, Lecturer of Immunology, Cell Pathology and Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Sciences, “A. Avogadro” University.
• 2000/2002: Visiting Professor at Institute fuer Physiologische Chemie, Klinikum der Philipps-Universitaet Marburg (D),
• 2002/2008: Visiting Professor at Henry Wellcome Laboratories for Integrative Neuroscience and Endocrinology, University of Bristol (UK).
• 2005 to date: overseas advisor of PhD students at Mahidol University, Bangkok (Thailand)
• 2007 to date: head of the Section of NanoBioImaging in Molecular Pathology (Centro Nanosistemi di Alessandria, Italy)




PUBLICATIONS
Author of 70 peer-reviewed papers published in indexed international Journals, 27 full papers and chapters published in Books and 156 poster/oral communication at National and International Congresses.
H index = 18.
Invited speakers at various International Meetings, including:
1. Vth International Symposium on PROTEINASE AND BIOLOGICAL CONTROL, Brdo/Portoroz, Slovenia (June 16-20, 2001)
2. 2nd General Meeting of the INTERNATIONAL PROTEOLYSIS SOCIETY, Freising/Muenich, Germany (Oct 31st-Nov 4th, 2001)
3. Joint meeting of COST Action on MAMMARY DEVELOPMENT, FUNCTION, CANCER, Ayr, Scotland (Dec. 7-8, 2001)
4. 1st Cell Death and Differentiation Conference & 4th International SASS Foundation Conference “Apoptosis in Cancer and Infection” Capri (I) 6-9 October 2002
5. Workshop on “Cellular Transport and Strategies for targeting Epitopes, Drugs and Reporter Molecules”, Budapest (U) 6-9 March 2003
6. VIth Meeting of the Slovenian Biochemical Society, Lipica, September 21-25, 2005.
7. 4th General Meeting of the INTERNATIONAL PROTEOLYSIS SOCIETY, Quebec City, Canada (Oct 16th-20th, 2005)
8. NIS Colloquim “Nanosized Systems for Molecular Imaging”, Torino 10-11 Nov. 2006
9. 6th Conference on Experimental and Translational Oncology CETO, kranjska Gora, Slovenia, from 24th to 28th March, 2010
10. 1st Early Cancer Detection: environment, biomarkers, mechanisms. Golfo di Squillace, Catanzaro (Italy), 14-17 May, 2010
11. 2010 World Molecular Imaging Congress, Kyoto, Japan, sept 8-11, 2010
12. 6th Swiss Apoptotic Meeting 2010, Bern, Switzerland, sept 30- oct 10, 2010
13. 10th Biennal Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Society for Neurochemistry, APSN2010, Phuket, Thailand, oct 18-20, 2010

PATENT:
International Patent: "Simultaneous mixed site-specific mutagenesis method".
Inventors: Carlo Follo, Ciro Isidoro
Deposited at International Bureau of WIPO on 19th November 2007
International application No. PCT/IB2007/003629

REVIEWER of Indexed International Journals (e.g. ‘Int. J. Cancer’, ”Cancer Research”, ”Cancer”, ‘Journal of Cell Science”, “Journal of Biological Chemistry”, “Journal of Cell Biology”, “Apoptosis”, “J. NeuroEndocrinology”, “Current Med. Chem.”, “Int. J. Biochem.& Cell Biol.”, “Autophagy”) and of International Grant Applications.

• Biogenesis and function of lysosomes and lysosome-related organelles.
• Role of lysosomal proteolysis and of autophagy in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.
• Role of lysosomes in programmed cell death.
• Functional genomic and proteomic approaches to identify regulators of lysosome-autophagy function.
• Biogenesis of lysosomal cathepsins: targeting, processing, signal transduction coupled with transport, receptors.
• Nanobiotechnology and cellular/molecular imaging in human pathology.

Castino R, Fiorentino I, Cagnin M, Isidoro C (2011) Chelation of lysosomal iron protects dopaminergic SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells from hydrogen peroxide toxicity by precluding autophagy and Akt dephosphorylation. Toxicol Sci. doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kfr179.

Follo C, Ozzano M, Mugoni V, Castino R, Santoro M, Isidoro C (2011) Knock-down of cathepsin D affects the retinal pigment epithelium, impairs swim-bladder ontogenesis and causes to praecox death in zebrafish. PlosOne 6 (7): e21908

Castino R, Pucer A, Veneroni R, Morani F, Peracchio C, Lah TT, Isidoro C. (2011) Resveratrol Reduces the Invasive Growth and Promotes the Acquisition of a Long-Lasting Differentiated Phenotype in Human Glioblastoma Cells. J Agric Food Chem. 59(8):4264-72.

Nicotra G, Manfroi F, Follo C, Castino R, Fusco N, Peracchio C, Kerim S, Valente G, Isidoro C. (2010) High expression of cathepsin D in non-Hodgkin's lymphomas negatively impacts on clinical outcome. Dis Markers. 28(3):167-83.

Castino R, Bellio N, Follo C, Murphy D, Isidoro C. (2010) Inhibition of PI3k class III-dependent autophagy prevents apoptosis and necrosis by oxidative stress in dopaminergic neuroblastoma cells. Toxicol Sci 117(1):152-62.

Nicotra G, Mercalli F, Peracchio C, Castino R, Follo C, Valente G, Isidoro C. (2010) Autophagy-active beclin-1 correlates with favourable clinical outcome in non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Mod Pathol. 23(7):937-50.

Gianotti E, Bertolino CA, Benzi C, Nicotra G, Caputo G, Castino R, Isidoro C, Coluccia S. (2009) Photoactive hybrid nanomaterials: indocyanine immobilized in mesoporous MCM-41 for "in-cell" bioimaging. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 1(3):678-87.

Pucer A, Castino R, Mirković B, Falnoga I, Slejkovec Z, Isidoro C, Lah TT. (2010) Differential role of cathepsins B and L in autophagy-associated cell death induced by arsenic trioxide in U87 human glioblastoma cells. Biol Chem.
391(5):519-31.

Valente G, Nicotra G, Arrondini M, Castino R, Capparuccia L, Prat M, Kerim S, Tamagnone L, Isidoro C. (2009) Co-expression of plexin-B1 and Met in human breast and ovary tumours enhances the risk of progression. Cell Oncol. 31(6):423-36.

Isidoro C, Biagioni F, Giorgi FS, Fulceri F, Paparelli A, Fornai F. (2009) The role of autophagy on the survival of dopamine neurons. Curr Top Med Chem. 9(10):869-79.

Castino R, Thepparit C, Bellio N, Murphy D, Isidoro C. (2008) Akt induces apoptosis in neuroblastoma cells expressing a C98X vasopressin mutant following autophagy suppression. J Neuroendocrinol. 20(10):1165-75.

Castino R, Peracchio C, Salini A, Nicotra G, Trincheri NF, Démoz M, Valente G, Isidoro C. (2009) Chemotherapy drug response in ovarian cancer cells strictly depends on a cathepsin D-Bax activation loop. J Cell Mol Med. 13(6):1096-109.

Castino R, Lazzeri G, Lenzi P, Bellio N, Follo C, Ferrucci M, Fornai F, Isidoro C. (2008) Suppression of autophagy precipitates neuronal cell death following low doses of methamphetamine. J Neurochem. 106(3):1426-39.

Castino R, Delpal S, Bouguyon E, Demoz M, Isidoro C, Ollivier-Bousquet M. (2008) Prolactin promotes the secretion of active cathepsin D at the basal side of rat mammary acini. Endocrinology. 149(8):4095-105.
Fornai F, Longone P, Ferrucci M, Lenzi P, Isidoro C, Ruggieri S, Paparelli A. (2008) Autophagy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: The multiple roles of lithium. Autophagy. 4(4):527-30.

Fornai F, Longone P, Cafaro L, Kastsiuchenka O, Ferrucci M, Manca ML, Lazzeri G, Spalloni A, Bellio N, Lenzi P, Modugno N, Siciliano G, Isidoro C, Murri L, Ruggieri S, Paparelli A. (2008) Lithium delays progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 105(6):2052-7.

Trincheri NF, Follo C, Nicotra G, Peracchio C, Castino R, Isidoro C. (2008) Resveratrol-induced apoptosis depends on the lipid kinase activity of Vps34 and on the formation of autophagolysosomes. Carcinogenesis. 29(2):381-9.

Erdmann S, Ricken A, Merkwitz C, Struman I, Castino R, Hummitzsch K, Gaunitz F, Isidoro C, Martial J, Spanel-Borowski K. (2007) The expression of prolactin and its cathepsin D-mediated cleavage in the bovine corpus luteum vary with the estrous cycle. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 293(5):E1365-77.

Follo C, Isidoro C. (2008) A fast and simple method for simultaneous mixed site-specific mutagenesis of a wide coding sequence. Biotechnol Appl Biochem. 49(Pt 2):175-83.

Castino R, Bellio N, Nicotra G, Follo C, Trincheri NF, Isidoro C. (2007) Cathepsin D-Bax death pathway in oxidative stressed neuroblastoma cells. Free Radic Biol Med. 42(9):1305-16.

Follo C, Castino R, Nicotra G, Trincheri NF, Isidoro C. (2007) Folding, activity and targeting of mutated human cathepsin D that cannot be processed into the double-chain form. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 39(3):638-49.

Trincheri NF, Nicotra G, Follo C, Castino R, Isidoro C. (2007) Resveratrol induces cell death in colorectal cancer cells by a novel pathway involving lysosomal cathepsin D. Carcinogenesis. 28(5):922-31.

No projects are available to students for the current accademic year.